Five brave hikers pulled into an almost empty Peralta Trailhead at sunrise and were on the trail by 6:20 AM with temperatures in the low 70s. We had the entire Lost Dutchman Trail to ourselves, but were a little disappointed by the amount of overgrown catclaw bushes covering the trail.

After 2.7 miles, we helped Vicki extract a spiky something from the bottom of her shoe and turned off onto the Coffee Flat Trail. This also was obscured by tall grasses and grabby plants in places. As we trekked along the trail, we were increasingly scratched up and a little breathless, but finally hear the screechy cry of a windmill turning. A little further, and we were at Reed’s Water, which was pretty dry except at the windmill itself.

We stopped for a snack break and Vicki climbed up the windmill. It it 5.5 miles to this spot, so this hike would never be only 10 miles, as posted in the hike announcement. Since we were eager to see if an alternate route would have less catclaw, and wanted some alternate scenery, we decided to take the wash to the old Coffee Flat Trail back, adding another 0.7 miles. This was immediately a great choice, as we saw the most green and lush riparian area as we walked along a moist creek bed. It was wide open and cool.

We eventually reached the old road, but ended up slightly off the trail in the wash until able to correct course. We ended up in the old corral and joined the Coffee Flat Trail soon after.

The last 4 miles were painful, as we had lost a little time bouldering in the wash. The sun was direct and temps were creeping into the high 80s. Frequent breaks with searches for shade were needed as we made our way back to the cars. If we could have teleported from the junction with Lost Dutchman to the trailhead, we would have all chosen that option over the hot slog on the trail.

We all reached the cars after 12:30 and enjoyed the air conditioning and cold drinks as we made our way from the still emptyish trailhead back to life in the city.